


home is where the heart is (and you have my heart)

by orphan_account



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, Baby Fic, F/M, Fluff, Mentions of Suicide and Depression, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-20
Updated: 2015-05-22
Packaged: 2018-03-31 09:08:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,591
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3972199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Sara calls in a favor, Felicity finds herself with a new and rather unwanted house guest. After all, with a five month old to take care of and work to do, she doesn't have time for anyone else in her life. Her daughter is her life and the best thing that ever happened to her. But sometimes someone new is all it takes to turn a house into a home, and she and Oliver seem to fit into a domestic life together a little bit too easily. </p><p>Is Felicity even ready for something new?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that this fic does contain brief mentions of suicide and depression. I saw some single parent au ideas and, well, this happened. Enjoy! Come say hi to me on Tumblr @redpendreaming!

Felicity was having a bad day. 

She woke that morning to Ada’s screaming and crying an hour before her alarm. Worse, her daughter’s diaper was an absolute mess. Why did her poop look like guacamole? Felicity made a mental note to look that up the second she finished cleaning up her daughter’s diaper. 

As it turns out, Felicity probably just ate something different than usual. Who knew that there was so much to learn about baby poop?

It was far too late for Felicity to go back to bed, so she simply decided to get to work on her software. Since Ada came along, she’d been working at home as a software engineer. It wasn’t a half bad job, though she’d rather be working with other people. 

And sure enough, her betas were buggy and of course she found an unhappy email in her inbox. This was really not her morning.

Felicity’s phone rang, and she deeply hoped it was some sort of good news. 

It was Sara, and it was not good news. 

“Felicity! I need a favor!”

Felicity rolled her eyes. “Sara, I don’t have time for favors right now.”

“No, it’s a really simple one. And I’d owe you one big time,” said Sara.

“Alright, what is it?” asked Felicity, half paying attention to her best friend.

“Well, long story short Oliver is getting renovations on his apartment, and well, he needs a place to stay while it’s getting done. I’d offer, but Nyssa and I just moved in together and he doesn’t have anywhere to go yet and I know you have an extra room so do you think he could stay with you for a little while?”

Felicity blinked. “You are aware that I have a five month old daughter, right? He’s going to hate it here. Plus, I don’t have time to deal with Oliver living in my house. I barely know him!”

“Please, Felicity. It’d be a really big help to me,” said Sara.

Felicity sighed. “You’re making that face again, aren’t you?”

“I’m not making that face.”

“She’s making the face,” said Nyssa in the background. 

Felicity couldn’t help but laugh. “Fine. You owe me one now.”

“I really do. He’ll be over later tonight to get his stuff moved in,” replied Sara.

“Sara, does he know I have a baby?” asked Felicity.

“He’ll be fine. He said he was willing to help out around the house as much as possible, including with the baby if he needed to.”

Felicity frowned. “Look, I’m okay with him staying, but if he even looks at my baby wrong I will kick him out and not give him any alternative.” 

“That’s fair. He’s pretty good with kids though. Thank you so much, ‘Lis.”

With that, the two of them said their goodbyes and Felicity got back to work, not looking forward to having Oliver at her house. The two of them had really only met in passing through Sara. He seemed nice enough, if a bit cocky. 

Sure enough, later that evening he knocked on the door, suitcase in hand.

He grinned at her and hot damn. Felicity did not remember him being that hot the last time they met.

“Hi, I’m Oliver. Sara told me you were willing to let me stay here for a few weeks?” he asked.

Felicity frowned. “Not so much willing as Sara twisted my arm. I don’t know how she did it. Come on inside and you can get settled. Sara said I had an extra room, but I just recently moved Ada into the second bedroom, so you’ll have to sleep on the couch. Is that okay?”

Oliver nodded. “I’m just glad to have a place to stay. Who’s Ada?”

As if on cue, Ada began to cry. 

“My daughter,” said Felicity leaving Oliver to go get her baby girl. 

Oliver stood in the entrance, door closed behind him. He stepped into the house a few more steps, debating whether or not he should follow Felicity.

Felicity returned a few moments later, a fussy baby in her arms. “Oliver, meet Ada.”

Oliver smiled. The baby was beautiful. “She’s lovely,” he said. “May I hold her?”

Felicity took a step back. “You know I’m really not sure I’m comfortable with a near stranger holding my baby.”

Oliver nodded. “That’s fair. I’d love to though, whenever you’re comfortable with it.”

His comment took Felicity by surprise. By her experience, people who wanted to hold babies just sort of demanded to hold them like it was their right. But this was her Ada, her child and the best damn thing to happen to her. He wanted to hold Ada but he wanted to do it on Felicity’s terms. Maybe this guy wasn’t quite the asshole she thought he was at first.

“I’ll let you know,” she said thoughtfully. “Make yourself at home. I think this little one needs fed.” 

Felicity left to feed Ada and let Oliver settle in. She came back nearly a half an hour later to find him relaxing on the couch, his suitcase settled neatly in a corner.

“I’m sorry that the house is kind of a mess. I tried to clean up, but between Ada and working at home sometimes things get...a little messy,” she said.

Oliver chuckled. “I completely understand. Even though I was only about ten when Thea was born, I remember the house was always messier than usual. That’s actually why I know so much about kids. I loved taking care of Thea when my parents weren’t around.”

“I’m sure Thea appreciated it. Are you two close?” asked Felicity.

“Well, she’s sort of doing that whole ‘graduating from high school and I’m so independent now’ thing, but yeah, we’re pretty close, even with her crazy antics.”

“Sounds like a fun girl. I’m gonna make some dinner for myself, now that Ada’s all fed. Want anything?”

Oliver shrugged. “Sure. How about I help cook?” he asked.

Felicity grinned. “That sounds great.”

The two of them fell into a silent routine over the next few days, adapting to each other’s work schedules, Felicity constantly worrying about baby Ada. Even when she was working at home, she had Ada either strapped to her chest or laid out on the floor with several toys as the baby became more mobile. And when Oliver was around, he sometimes played with her. Felicity found herself smiling more and more when he was around.

Just like Felicity had said, Ada was fairly good about sleeping through the night. The few times she did wake up, Felicity woke up quickly enough so that Oliver never heard it. And it all seemed to work out well until the night before Felicity met with another major client possibility.

Ada woke up shrieking and crying. Felicity immediately rushed to her crib and held her in her arms, doing everything she could to try and calm her baby down.

“Please, stop crying, Ada. Please. You’re gonna wake Oliver and I have to get up early tomorrow to meet with a possible client. Please, Ada,” said Felicity knowing that her begging was doing nothing but maybe calming her down. And as her daughter cried, Felicity found herself crying too. She loved being a mom. But some nights it was just hard, especially without Cooper around.

“Hey.”

Oliver stood in the doorway nonchalantly. Felicity tried not to notice his arms which were crossed, the veins running through them popping. Wow he was strong. 

“You okay?” he asked, approaching Felicity, placing a hand on her back.

Felicity shook her head. “I’m sorry she woke you,” she said, painfully aware of the tears in her own eyes and the choked emotion in her voice.

“Hey, don’t worry about it. You should go back to bed. Let me take care of her,” said Oliver.

Felicity shook her head. “No it’s okay, I’ve got it.”

“Do you?”

The question took Felicity by surprise. No one had asked her that in a very long time. “No. I don’t.” Maybe it was the sleep deprivation or pure emotional exhaustion she was experiencing, but Felicity suddenly felt very vulnerable. She held Ada out and gave him to Oliver, the first time she’d let him hold her since he’d arrived four days ago.

Oliver smiled as he took Ada in his arms, holding her close to his chest. Ada slowly began to calm down. He slowly rocked her back and forth, humming a lullaby softly.

Felicity couldn’t help but watch in wonder. Ada was picky about the people she liked, just like Felicity had been as a child. And yet she was perfectly comfortable with Oliver. She still fussed, but she slowly began to calm down. It was...quite a sight, seeing such a big and occasionally imposing man like Oliver holding someone so tiny and precious.

“Hey, go rest, Felicity. I’ve got this.”

It was all Felicity could do to nod her head and walk back to her bedroom. Except, the second she laid down, she couldn’t sleep. Sighing, she went to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea. She sat down at the kitchen table, hoping that she’d be sleepy again soon enough.  
A few minutes later, Oliver came out of the bedroom and found her sitting there, hair a mess, blanket around her shoulders. “What are you still doing up?” he asked.

Felicity shrugged. “I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I decided to make myself a cup of tea. Thought that might help. It hasn’t. I just took some melatonin, so hopefully I’ll be falling asleep soon.” 

Oliver beckoned her over to the couch. “Here, come sit on the couch. Tell me about Ada.”

Felicity grinned softly and got up and sat on the couch across from Oliver. 

“Are you okay, Felicity?” he asked.

Felicity shook her head. “I guess. I don’t know. I’m tired, Oliver. I’ve been trying to raise Ada all on my own and having a baby is hard. I don’t...I don’t think I was ever ready for this. I don’t think I ever would have been regardless of how it happened, but still. I’m all alone over here and my life is consumed by trying to keep up with my work and taking care of Ada. It’s lonely, you know? There’s no one that I can talk to about my day. And I”m stressed trying to work from home and I think Ada has a fever and I’m just...I’m a mess.”

Oliver reached out and took her hand in his, and Felicity felt her breath catch in her throat.

He looked at her, blue eyes glinting in the dim yellow light from the kitchen. “Hey, if you ever need to tell anyone about your day, you can talk to me.”

Felicity smiled, truly smiled. “Thank you.”

There was a heavy silence between them. And then,

“Who is Ada’s father? Does he at least help support you financially?”

Felicity immediately looked down, trying to hide the tears in her eyes. She looked up at Oliver trying to hide her sadness with a laugh. “That’s kind of a long story.”

“Well neither of us are asleep yet, so feel free to tell me.” He glanced at Felicity. “If you want, that is.”

She nodded. “It’s okay. Um,” she took a deep breath. “I graduated college with my boyfriend, Cooper. we moved into this house and started working. Except, at the time we were both pretty reckless. I was twenty two, we both thought we had the world ahead of us. But we also got into hacktivism. I...I designed a program that did what it was supposed to too well. Only, it was sort of less than...legal. He used it. He used my program and got caught. He took the fall for me and went to prison. And I was pregnant. But he committed suicide in prison before I could tell him. I...I wasn’t okay. It’s been over a year now and I’m still not sure I’m over it.”

Oliver squeezed her hand. “I’m so sorry, Felicity. I had no idea.”

She shrugged, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I dealt with some depression before and after Ada was born, between dealing with the shock of being pregnant and losing my boyfriend...it was a lot. I kind of think Ada saved my life. She’s the best thing that ever happened to me, Oliver.”

“She’s precious,” he replied.

Felicity yawned, finding herself leaning up against Oliver. “Thank you for helping take care of her. You’re a good man, Oliver.”

Felicity was slowly falling asleep, but could have sworn she felt Oliver’s lips on her the top of her head. She smiled and curled up closer to him. She liked being close to him.  
“You’re a good mom, Felicity. You’re remarkable.”

Felicity opened her eyes and looked up at him. “Thank you for remarking on it.”

The thought crossed her mind that he might kiss her. The thought crossed her mind that she might kiss him. But they weren’t...he’d only been there four days. Why would she have feelings for him? Why would he have feelings for her? It was ridiculous.

“I shouldn’t fall asleep on top of the man platonically staying in my house,” she murmured.

“Then let me take you to bed,” said Oliver.

Felicity cocked her head at that. Did he just...

Oliver looked flustered. “I mean, let me help um, carry you to bed. Unless you want to stay here. Which you don’t need to obviously.”

Felicity chuckled. “And I thought I was bad about babbling and awkward innuendos. You can absolutely take me to bed. Um, wait, that came out wrong. Which was a really dumb thing to do since you made that same mistake seconds ago. Yeah, I’d appreciate the help into bed.”

Oliver helped her off the couch and simply picked her up when she stumbled to find her footing. Wow. Now Felicity could see why Ada instantly calmed down in his arms. He felt safe. He felt like home. 

“Goodnight Felicity.” Oliver pulled the covers over her and flicked off the lights, wondering if he was becoming too attached to the Smoak girls. 

Both of their questions were answered several days later, when Oliver was running late for work and Felicity was trying to get his coffee in a mug for him to take to go.

“Hey, hurry up!” she exclaimed. “I don’t want you to be late for your meeting.”

“I know, it’s just been a crazy morning and a crazy night,” he said, grabbing the cup of coffee. “Thanks for breakfast. I’ll see you at six for dinner!” he exclaimed as he picked up a piece of toast. Before leaving he suddenly gave her a quick peck on the lips. 

“Have a good day, Felicity.”

Felicity stood there in shock as he walked out the door. Oliver stood on the other side of the door, also feeling shocked.

“Did I just...” he wondered aloud.

“Did he just...” 

“Oh no,” said both of them.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this has officially moved to having a third chapter. It felt right to cut it off where I did. Sorry about the pain in this chapter.
> 
> Come say hi to me on Tumblr @redpendreaming!

So what exactly was the protocol for getting kissed by the guy staying in your house under purely platonic circumstances? Well, clearly not so platonic anymore. Was there a protocol for this sort of thing?

Felicity spent the majority of the day worrying about what would happen when Oliver got home. No, not home. This wasn’t his home. But if Felicity was honest with herself, it felt more like home when he was around. It scared her, how natural it felt running around that morning, her trying to make him coffee while trying to manage Ada, him kissing her goodbye. He was a natural with Ada, and she had to admit, there was something incredibly attractive about seeing him there, holding Ada and rocking her back to sleep at night. 

In a way, Felicity should have seen it coming, judging by the way he helped carry her back to bed almost a week ago, the way he kissed her forehead and told her to go back to bed on nights he knew she was having a rough time. The way he listened to her talking about Cooper and her battle with depression after all of that emotional trauma.

Oliver made her smile again. And she loved him for it.

The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. She loved him. No, it wasn’t possible. Oliver had barely been staying at her house for a little over a week. They barely knew each other. But even in the time they’d spent practically living together, he made her life better.

Felicity shook her head. Love. It wasn’t for her. It couldn’t be. How could she have let herself be so stupid, falling in love again? Falling in love with someone so handsome and kind and genuinely funny, someone who once confessed to her on one of their late night discussions that he had a hard time believing that he was worthy of love.

Love had ruined Felicity before. And she wouldn’t let it happen to her again.

There was a knock at her door and Felicity tried to straighten herself up before answering it. She opened the door to find a tall, dark haired man standing before her.

“Can I help you?”

“Hi,” he said, raising his hand in a slight wave. “I’m Ray Palmer. I’m -”

“The new potential client that I met with. You’re…you’re the CEO of Palmer Tech.”

Ray nodded, smiling. “Yes I am. I wanted to return your software beta to you in person. You’ve got great work here. You’re brilliant, Ms. Smoak.”

Felicity smiled, relaxing for the first time since that morning. “Thanks,” she replied, taking her software from him.

He cocked his head. “Hey, so this may seem out of the blue but, um, do you think you’d be interested in going on a date with me sometime?”

Felicity had no idea what in the world possessed Ray Palmer to ask her out on a date. Did he know anything about her? What about Oliver? What about him, she asked herself. For all she knew, he regretted kissing her. For all she knew, it had been a mistake. Felicity didn’t want to be in love with Oliver. She was, but she didn’t want to be. Ray was cute. Sort of looked like a bug eyed dorito, but cute.

After a moment of thought, she replied, “I think I’m free tomorrow. Pick me up at eight?”

Ray smiled. “See you then.”

Felicity closed the door behind him, feeling utterly confused. She loved Oliver but had just agreed to go on a date with Ray Palmer. What the hell was wrong with her? It was too late to turn back on any of it now. A sinking feeling grew in the pit of her stomach. She and Oliver would talk tonight. She’d tell him about the date. But she would definitely not admit to anyone else that she was in love with him.

Oliver came home later that day. The moment he entered the house, tension filled the air. Tension of the feelings unspoken, tension of wondering if everything had been a giant mistake. Tension of the guilt Felicity felt for agreeing to go on a date with someone else.

“Oliver?” she asked. She felt like she couldn’t breathe. 

“Felicity.” 

Felicity sighed, closing her eyes as he said her name. She loved the way he said her name. An awful silence filled the gap between them.

“Felicity, I -”

“I have a date!” she blurted.

Oliver blinked. “What?”

Felicity closed her eyes. Why had that been the first phrase out of her mouth? “I have a date. With Ray. Palmer. Ray Palmer asked me to dinner when he dropped off my software beta.”

Oliver refused to look at her. “And you said yes?”

“Is that a problem? I mean, you and I are two independent consenting adults and I didn’t know if we-”

“No. It’s fine,” stated Oliver flatly. 

Felicity’s heart sank. Deep down, she’d hoped that he would say yes. But perhaps she’d been right after all. Love wasn’t meant for her. He must have thought that their kiss was a mistake in the end. 

“Oh.” It was all Felicity could say. Ada began to cry and she left the room to take care of her daughter. The two of them ate dinner separately that night. And when Ada woke, it was Felicity who got up. Oliver didn’t even wake up this time.

This was why love terrified Felicity. It hurt too much.

The next day, Oliver had left for work by the time she got up, having left her a note that said he had to go in early. Felicity sighed, and called in Sara to babysit while she went on her date. 

The date was fine. As it turned out, Ray was simply boring, and Felicity didn’t have any sort of feelings for him. They parted amiably at the end of the night, both of them knowing that this date would never end up anywhere else.

When she opened the door, Oliver’s stuff was gone.

“Sara?” she called out. 

Sara walked out of the living room, shushing her. “Ada’s asleep. I just put her down. What’s up? How was the date?”

Felicity stared at the empty living room. “Where’s Oliver?”

Sara touched Felicity’s arm in comfort. “Oh Felicity…”

Felicity turned to her best friend. “Where did he go, Sara? Did he say?”

Sara shook her head. “I…I don’t know! He didn’t tell me!”

Felicity stepped toward her, feeling a rush of emotions all at once, anger and hurt and heartbreak. “Where did he go?” she demanded, all too aware that she was about to unnecessarily use her Loud Voice on someone who didn’t deserve it.

Sara shook her head. “He came in and muttered a bunch of different things. All I caught out of it was the name ‘Isabel.’ I’m sorry Felicity.” She gently stroked Felicity’s arm. “I had no idea…”

“Get out,” hissed Felicity.

“Felicity…”

“LEAVE ME ALONE!” shouted Felicity, feeling the tears well up in her eyes. Sara left, and Felicity couldn’t help but cry there in the living room, the house feeling even emptier than ever before.

He was gone.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are friends, and the end of this little series. Now we get to find out if Oliver and Felicity work things out. Even though this is technically the last part of the story, it’s not the end of their story. It’s highly likely that I’ll write an epilogue to this story. I love this ‘verse, and you guys do too, from what I can tell! Thank you to everyone who has liked and reblogged it or commented on AO3! Seriously, y’all are the best. Come say hi to me on Tumblr @redpendreaming!

The next several days were miserable for Felicity. The house just seemed lonely without Oliver around. Felicity didn’t know how a matter of weeks turned her life completely upside down.

She’d heard nothing from him for days. And life turned gray and dull again. Not even Ada’s giggles made her smile much anymore. Why had she gone on that stupid date with Ray? And why had Oliver walked away?

Time passed. It always did. And still, nothing from Oliver.

She called Sara. “Have you heard anything from Oliver?” she asked one night as the two of them chatted.

“I haven’t. I’m sorry, Felicity.”

Felicity assumed that was the end of that. Until there was a knock at her door one evening.

Felicity opened the door to find Oliver standing there. Felicity took a step back, eyes barely meeting his before flickering to the ground.

“Oliver...you’re here.”

“May I come in?” he asked.

Felicity paused. “That depends. Are you just going to walk away before I get a chance to say anything, or are we going to talk about this like adults? Or will you just ignore me for three days while you sleep with Isabel?”

Oliver shook his head. “What are you talking about? I wasn’t with Isabel.”

“Then who were you with?” asked Felicity, her forehead scrunching up in confusion. “Sara said that you said something about Isabel.”

Oliver sighed. “Please, let me in, Felicity.”

“No,” said Felicity, shaking her head. “I did that before and I got hurt.”

The way Oliver looked at her nearly broke her heart. He genuinely looked sorry. But Felicity wasn’t sure she was ready to let him back into her life just yet.

“I’m sorry, Felicity. I wasn’t with Isabel. I was staying with my friend Tommy. He’d been on vacation when I first had to stay somewhere. Sara probably heard me muttering about how I had the opportunity to sleep with Isabel, but I didn’t.”

“Why not?” asked Felicity, crossing her arms.

“Because she’s not you.”

The words hit Felicity like a punch to the gut. “Please don’t do this to me, Oliver.”

“Do what? Tell you how I feel? I like you, Felicity! You’re...wonderful. Being here in this house with you and your daughter, kissing you goodbye, it felt like the most natural thing in the world. I’ve never felt that way before. I wanted to tell you that day, but you went on that date.”

Felicity leaned against the doorway. “Oliver, you never stopped me. You could have told me not to go on that date. As it turns out, that date was a massive mistake on a lot of levels. I made a mistake. But you? You didn’t even stick around long enough to listen to me. You let me go and you left me without saying goodbye.”

Oliver looked down. “It hurt too much to stay.”

“And how do you think I feel?”

Oliver looked up at her. “Why did you go on that date, Felicity?”

Felicity looked down at the ground. “I was scared.”

“Of what?”

She looked back up at him. “Of how much I cared about you. Of how normal everything felt.”

“I wish you would have told me,” said Oliver. He reached for her hand, and Felicity pulled away.

“I wish you would have stayed.”

“I wish I would have, too.”

Felicity dabbed at her suddenly damp eyes. “Love isn’t meant for me, Oliver. It hurts. But I’m used to it. I’m used to people leaving. I...I shouldn’t have expected anything different this time.”

Oliver took her hand in his. “Then let me stay this time.” He stared at her, blue eyes pleading with her. “Let me...let me show you that I want to stay. For you. For Ada. For us. If you want there to be an us, that is.”

There was a part of Felicity that wanted to kiss him. But she knew that if she did, she wasn’t sure she would be able to stop.

Oliver hung his head. “Well, I’ll just see myself out, then.”

Felicity watched him walk away. The ache in her heart was too much. She couldn’t stand to watch him walk away again. Not when he wanted to stay. Not when he wanted her to.

“Oliver!” she called after him. In her bare feet she raced across the driveway. Oliver stopped, and she found herself pressed flush against him. She took a deep breath as he pressed his forehead to hers. “Stay,” she whispered. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so hard on you. I just...I'm scared."

Oliver smiled, wrapping his arms around her waist, pulling her closer. “I’ll do whatever it take to prove to you every day that I want to stay with you. I don’t ever want to leave you again, Felicity. It's okay to be scared. We can be scared together.”

Felicity smiled. “I don’t ever want you to leave.”

“Then I won’t,” he replied, grinning.

Their noses were touching, lips mere inches from each other. Oliver leaned in and Felicity didn’t hesitate to lean in as well, their lips pressing together gently at first. They took a breath before kissing again, deeper and fuller this time, full of promise.

They kissed, and it felt like home.


End file.
